Biker's Cafe Chatroom

  • Thread starter Thread starter IC3
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I said goodbye to my 1250 Bandit today, after more than 7 years of (mechanically) trouble free riding. I started to lose interest in riding last year and SORN'd her in October. Got her back on the road a couple of weeks ago and was reminded why I wasn't enjoying riding: the vibrations coming up into my right hand caused numbness and tingling and caused my hand to go cold and blue. A 2011 reg but was the last of the SAL0s. Nearly 36k miles and still going strong.




Time to find something more comfortable and I took delivery of this baby this morning - a Kawasaki GTR1400 2016 model with 21k on the clock:



I'm riding down to West Yorkshire on Saturday to catch up with a pal for a few beers, and for the first time for a long time, I'm looking forward to riding down. I did the same last year and hated it in the end.

I've gone from Suzuki Bandit (600 oil cooled) to Kawasaki (ZZR600) many years ago, and went straight back to a Bandit (newer 650 water cooled) after a 9 year break from biking. Wish I had gone straight to one of these. I was T-boned off my 650 and it was written off, so I thought, sod it, and bought a 1250 :D
 
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IC3 said:
I just hope it won't weigh a ton like most kwaks.
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my previous bike a kawa ninja 400 weighed iirc 168kg wet and it felt really light it was great in that respect. the new zx4rr doesn't weigh much less thana zx6r, apart from not being able to buy new i'd just go for the 6.
 
tyke_ said:
my previous bike a kawa ninja 400 weighed iirc 168kg wet and it felt really light it was great in that respect. the new zx4rr doesn't weigh much less thana zx6r, apart from not being able to buy new i'd just go for the 6.
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90's bike, when I said 'most kwaks' I meant modern stuff... z800 is a good example.
 
FBi7 said:
.... I took delivery of this baby this [Thursday] morning - a Kawasaki GTR1400 2016 model with 21k on the clock:



I'm riding down to West Yorkshire on Saturday......
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So, as planned, I took this lady down to West Yorkshire on Saturday. I decided, as a keen (but amateur) meteorologist, to take the A1/A1(M)/M1 to avoid the worst of the weather. Normally I'd go M876/M9/M80/M73/M74/M6/A66 (stunning road...if you haven't, do it!) A1M/M1. An extra 20 or 30 miles, but worth it in terms of weather avoidance and costal scenery/just some different scenery. A little damp, and cold, with temps of 3 or 4 degrees for the first half of the journey (one more extra layer would've sorted that). But what a pleasant ride, really enjoyed most of it. The A1 from Edinburgh down to, and beyond the border, is single carriageway in places, so I got to practice a few overtaking maneuvers.

On the way home, however, was a different story weather-wise, basically jetwashed for most of the 260 mile trip, but it was also ~10 deg C warmer than the previous day. Took the reverse route, again to avoid the worst of the precipitation. First time I'd fully tested the weather protection this baby offers, as well as my new gear. Got home and I was still warm and dry, with the exception of my 20 year old Sidi boots, which left my socks slightly damp.

This lady comes with a 22 litre tank and her fuel economy is fantastic. She has an ECO mode which adjusts the fuel/air mixture which increases your MPG during cruise. Downside is you need to remember to set it whilst stationary; which I generally haven't remembered yet. On the way down, used to riding the old 1250 Bandit, I planned to refuel twice enroute, this time I only refuelled once at a Service Station just on northern outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne (I did refuel a mile away from my destination in preparation for the return leg). Got talking to a group of Harley riders there, who were heading north, so it was nice to pass on weather info to them.

The bike came with Michelin Road 5 tyres and they seemed in good nick. I've always been a Pirelli Angel ST guy, but, oh my, these tyres are fantastic! Even just getting used to the bike, she'd go 'round corners like she was on rails. I'm fairly confident at riding in the wet, except on roundabouts as that's where I came off the first time 20 years ago, so I navigate them cautiously, so I take roundabouts (and the M9 - M876 junction cloverleaf) cautiously (it's great in the dry). I found the Michelin Road 5s great on the motorway with standing water.

And today, I cleaned her, because she was filthy :D

Sorry, didn't mean for the long post, and next time I'll take pics.

Cheers,

FB..
 
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Almost forgot to add the whole point of my post.

The last documented sevice of her was back in 2020, so today she had 4.4L of new oil, new oil filter and some new final drive oil. A £49 DIY service!
 
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Oh how I love this bike! Just perfect for nadgery roads down here.

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That new 890 SMT has piqued my interest. Would like to have a test ride of one and intrigued to see if they do an SMT-R variant!

Took my CB650R out on the weekend to keep it ticking over until the new bike is inbound and forgot how nice that was to ride also. The Akra has added to the theatre of it for sure!
 
Logsi said:
Oh how I love this bike! Just perfect for nadgery roads down here.

mUAGdzJ.jpg


That new 890 SMT has piqued my interest. Would like to have a test ride of one and intrigued to see if they do an SMT-R variant!

Took my CB650R out on the weekend to keep it ticking over until the new bike is inbound and forgot how nice that was to ride also. The Akra has added to the theatre of it for sure!
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Is that a 690 SMT-R? It looks pretty tasty!
 
More carbon arrived...

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Hopefully I can get these on at the weekend. Picked them up second hand although they're as good as new :)
 
Anyone used Sportsbikeshop recently?

I've not ordered from them in a while but placed a couple of orders over the last week and they're no where near as on it as they used to be.

Ended up cancelling both as they still hadn't been dispatched 2-3 days later. I remember it used to be you'd order anywhere up to 5ish and it would go out that day.

I'm hoping their online offering isn't going down the pan now they've got all their new shops and it's just a one off.
 
Yes, a couple of weeks ago. Ordered new textiles and lid on Sunday afternoon, delivered by DPD the following day. The lid was a tad tight, so ordered the bigger size as well as drop the smaller lid off at a DPD collection point. Refund and bigger lid received next day.
 
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tom_e said:
Anyone used Sportsbikeshop recently?

I've not ordered from them in a while but placed a couple of orders over the last week and they're no where near as on it as they used to be.

Ended up cancelling both as they still hadn't been dispatched 2-3 days later. I remember it used to be you'd order anywhere up to 5ish and it would go out that day.

I'm hoping their online offering isn't going down the pan now they've got all their new shops and it's just a one off.
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Used them a few weeks ago and didn’t have any issues.
 
Funnily enough I ended up checking out eBay and found what I wanted for a fiver less than they were charging...turned out it was the SBS eBay shop and I had the dispatch email within a couple of hours.
 
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